Interception
by The Threat
Summary: Moving on from my last story, 'Somewhere Far Far Away', one Hero will help the Doctor fight an old enemy.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: "Doctor Who" is owned by the BBC, and "Heroes" is created by Tim Kring. Maen and this story's narrator are mine.

* * *

People often wonder what an alien world would be like. Personally, I've wondered what an extra-terrestrial would think of our planet. The Doctor himself has been fairly optimistic about us (albeit that I feel his optimism is misplaced). But then, apparently he knows us humans better than we know ourselves. So in a way, what he thinks could never count. But now that we have a companion from a galaxy far far away, all I needed to do is observe her reactions to what Earth is like, and I'll have my answer.

After some time, the Tardis finally landed, and the Doctor could say: "There. We're here."

"Already?" our new companion, Maen, was surprised, "But I thought you said the planet was too far away."

"With your technology, it would take centuries until you reached Earth, yes." the Doctor explained, "But with Time Lord technology, it's like going around the corner and back again."

"So where exactly are we, Doc?" I asked.

"Didn't you hear?" Maen asked.

"Yes..." I sighed, "Earth. But where on Earth?"

"We're in Tel Aviv." the Doctor answered, "The year's 1992."

Before I could say anything, Maen started: "What's that mean? The year's 1992?"

I looked at her: "I take it you either have a different method of measuring time, or you never heard of time-traveling."

"It's both, actually." the Doctor replied, "So, you want to see what's out there?"

"Sure!" Maen exclaimed as she ran to the door.

Personally, I was a bit reluctant. I'm not sure why, but for some reason the name Tel Aviv alone didn't give me much courage. But I supposed with the Doctor and Maen there, I should be alright.

Following Maen, I stepped outside the Tardis. There was this look of surprise on Maen's face. I suppose it was to be expected, since she just arrived on what she perceived to be an alien world. But soon enough I had that same look of surprise on my face as well. What I saw were sky-scrapers, modern cars (or what was modern for the early nineties), people of all ages and ethnicities,...

"Doc..." I said, "Are you sure this is Tel Aviv?"

"Of course it is?" the Doctor replied as he locked the Tardis behind him, "Why wouldn't it be?"

"And where exactly is this?" I asked.

"It's only the second largest city in Israel!" the Doctor seemed surprised I didn't know that.

"I thought so." I said, none the wiser.

"Why are you asking all this?" he finally wondered.

"It's just that..." I explained, "... when I think of Israel, I think of people in robes, sand, temples and the like. But not... this!"

"Oh!" the Doctor understood, "This city is not what you expected! For someone who lives on this planet, you know surprisingly little about it."

I shrugged, when Maen asked: "Wait, it isn't like this everywhere else?"

The Doctor smiled: "You know how in your galaxy, you have a planet like Coruscant, which has buildings like these? Or Tatooine that is covered in sand? Or Hoth that's covered in ice?"

Maen nodded, so the Doctor could continue: "Well this planet is like all those planets, rolled into one."

She then turned to me: "How do you people survive on a planet like this?"

"Barely." I answered, flatly.

"And why are these vehicles on the ground?" she wondered, "Shouldn't they be flying?"

"In the future, maybe." I replied.

"Well, there's no fun in just standing here." the Doctor said, "Why won't we explore the city?"


	2. Chapter 2

Exploring was the right word to use. Whatever image I had of this country got changed completely. In many ways, this city wasn't much different from what I'm used to. Besides the obvious (buildings and cars), they had bars, movie theaters (where they were currently projecting the third Jack Slater movie), where kids were arguing over whether Turboman or Crimson Chin was the strongest (and some even mentioned local heroes that I never heard of),... and nobody even noticed a group of westerners in town (assuming that either the Doctor or Maen were western to begin with). How could they anyway, seeing as people of every ethnicity could be found here.

"How far into the past are we?" Maen asked at some point.

"Actually..." the Doctor replied, "... we're in your future."

"The future?" both Maen and me replied in unison.

"But I thought technology advances over time." Maen said, "This planet seems... so far behind on my home galaxy."

"Guess we're just slow learners." I remarked.

"Well, at least they all speak Standard, so there's some hope for you yet."

"Standard?" I questioned, "Is that what you call your language?"

Maen seemed confused: "Yes? Why? What do you call it?"

"We don't even speak it." I answered.

This lead to the Doctor having to explain to her how the Tardis telepathically translates everything for its passengers (as well as explaining what the word "telepathy" means). As they were talking, I looked around. I spotted a small group of children. Judging by their large number and the uniforms they were wearing, I deduced they were on a school field-trip. It reminded me of the fact that at this point in time, I would be seven years old. So while I'm here in Tel Aviv, there's a seven-year-old version of me walking around elsewhere in the world. How many people can say they've done that?

My train of thought derailed, as I noticed something happening among those kids. One of them, a young girl was putting her hands on her ears. I assumed that the noise of the city was too much for her to bear, until I heard her shout: "Shut up! SHUT UP!"

"Hey look!" one of the other kids pointed at her, "Crazy Gitty is acting up again."

"Shut up?" another laughed, "We're not saying anything."

"What's going on here?" the chaperone cut in, "Stop making a fuss!"

"Make them stop!" the girl begged him.

"We weren't doing anything." one of the kids said, "Honest!"

But the girl didn't stop. She kept shouting and screaming, and nothing anyone said or did helped.

"What's going on over there?" the Doctor asked me.

"I don't know." I replied.

The chaperone had had enough of her fuss: "We will leave you here if you don't behave, miss..."

He got interrupted when the girl pushed him, shouting: "Why won't you help me! Make them stop!"

And before she could do anything else, the Doctor had already arrived at the scene. He placed his hand on her shoulder, which... somehow caused her to pass out.

"Don't worry, I'm a doctor." the Doctor told the chaperone.

The Doctor started examining the girl, using his sonic screwdriver in the same way as a medical doctor would use a penlight. While that was going on, I saw Maen making faces at the girl.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

Maen sighs: "I keep forgetting I can't use the Force any more. I thought I could use it to see what's wrong with her."

"Looks like you'll have to find out the hard way." I said, as I decided to join the Doctor.

I started towards him and the girl, and Maen followed.

"She seems to have had an epileptic fit." the Doctor explained, "But I can't be sure unless I take her to a hospital."

"Wait, I can't just let you take her!" the chaperone said, "I'm responsible for her!"

He was right about one thing. Some random stranger, claiming to be a doctor, but not showing any credentials? If I were that chaperone, I would think the Doctor were a child abductor.

"Just point us to the nearest hospital." the Doctor said, "You can find find us there."

The chaperone needed time to consider this. Once he made up his mind, he told us where to find a hospital.

"Thank you." the Doctor said, "Maen, you better carry her."

"Why do I have to carry her?" she whined.

"You want to use the Force again?" the Doctor countered.

"What was that?" the chaperone sounded worried, "She wants to use force?"

I decided to try something: "What's the girl's name?"

He needed some time to think about it, then turned to the other kids: "What's your friend's name."

"Gitty." said one.

"Jinxy." said another.

Lots of names were mentioned, all of them derogatory.

"Can't you kids be serious?" I asked them.

"We are serious!" one of them shouted.

"I take that as a no." I told them, and turned away from them, to rejoin the Doctor and Maen.

"So what are you planning to do?" I asked the Doctor.

"Exactly what I told him." the Doctor replied, "Take her to a hospital."

"Is this really our concern?" I asked.

"This girl was screaming people to stop, yet nobody was doing anything." the Doctor said, "It's a mystery I like to solve."

"Doctor, she's waking up." Maen said.

We both looked. The girl was opening her eyes, slowly.

This pleased the Doctor: "Hello there. I'm the Doctor. What's your name?"

The girl opened her eyes wide and started kicking Maen to let go.

"Calm down." the Doctor told her, but she kept struggling.

Maen could barely hold her, and the Doctor couldn't place his hand on her shoulder because she moved so much. It was a surreal moment, now that I think about it. We basically had two extra-terrestrial beings, trying to babysit an earth girl. Anyway, eventually the Doctor tried a more psychological approach.

He grabbed the girls head with both of his hands, forcing her to look at him: "Listen to me. You were shouting and screaming, begging people to stop. Am I right?"

The girl nodded.

"Well, if you let us, we can help you." he told her.

There was still a look of distrust on the girl's face, so I added: "I saw how your classmates treated you. They don't like you very much, do they?"

The girl shook her head: "I don't like them either."

"That's what I thought." I replied, "But if you let us help you, you might have a story to tell them. Make yourself look like someone they'd look up to."

"Really?" she asked.

"So what is your name?" the Doctor asked her.

"Hana." she replied.

I raised my brows. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but to be sure I asked: "Hana who?"

"Hana Gitelman." she answered.

Neither the Doctor or Maen were looking at me, so they didn't notice the look that must have appeared on my face. The Girl, Hana, probably did, but the Doctor spoke before she could ask.

"Well then, Hana, shall we?"


	3. Chapter 3

So the four of us entered the nearest hospital, where the Doctor immediately asked the receptionist: "Hello, I'd like a room for this girl."

The receptionist took one surprised look at him, but decided to stay professional: "What seems to be the problem?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out." the Doctor replied.

"Do you work here?" the receptionist asked.

"Not yet." the Doctor replied.

"Wait, you're not a real doctor?" Hana asked.

"Oh yes I am." the Doctor replied, "Just not..."

"Guys!" I interrupted, "We're wasting time here."

The seemed to alarm the receptionist: "Is it an emergency?"

"Yes!" the Doctor replied, quite spontaneously.

"Just get us to a neurologist." I suggested.

There was that look on the receptionist's face, apparently surprised I could be so specific about the type of doctor we needed.

"I'll see who's available." he replied, "What's the name?"

"The Doctor." was the reply.

"I think he means the patient's name." I said.

"Oh, of course." the Doctor said, "Gitelman, Hana."

Hearing that name again was like getting confirmation of something my mind wasn't yet able to process. I shook my head, trying to forget about it.

"You can wait in the next room." the receptionist told us.

"Thank you." I said and turned to go to said room.

The Doctor followed suit: "You're quite eager to have this done."

I said nothing.

"Aren't you coming with us?" I heard Hana ask.

I turned to look. She was talking to Maen, who looked aghast at the entire area. I walked back to her.

"Maen, this really isn't the time or place to be in awe about anything." I told her.

"This is a hospital?" Maen questioned, "Where are all the droids?"

I didn't know what she was talking about, but I didn't care at the time either: "I'll explain later."

I grabbed her wrist and pulled her along.

But as I was about to enter the room, the Doctor himself dragged Hana further into the corridor.

"Doc, what are you doing?" I asked him.

"Just checking if your primitive means are sufficient." was all he said.

"Sounds good to me." Maen agreed, pulled her wrist out of my grip and followed the Doctor.

He eventually entered the first empty room he could find. By the looks of it, it was some doctor's office, who must've been out for lunch.

The Doctor let Hana sit down, while he knelled down to be on her eye-height: "So, Hana, tell me exactly what were you hearing?"

Hana hesitated to answer.

"Don't worry." the Doctor assured her, "You don't have to lie, you can tell me everything."

She worked up her courage, then eventually answered: "Voices."

"What kind of voices?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know." she replied, "They say things I can't understand."

"And how do they sound?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know." Hana answered, "It's not like I'm hearing them. It's like I'm thinking them myself."

"Someone is trying to control you?" Maen sounded concerned.

"No, I don't think so." the Doctor replied, "Is it the first time you heard these voices?"

Hana shook her head: "I've heard them many times. Sometimes I understand them, sometimes I don't."

The Doctor had to think before he asked his next question: "When we found you, did you understand the voices you heard?"

Hana shook her head.

"And when you understand them, what are they saying?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know." she replied, "Sometimes it's a man telling his wife when he'll be home. Sometimes it's people talking about money. And other times it's just disgusting..."

"Doc." I started, "Can I talk to you?"

The Doctor was about to say "sure", but then he saw me pointing to the door, implying I have something to say that I don't want Hana to hear.

"Of course." the Doctor got up, "Maen, can you look after her?"

Maen nodded, upon which the Doctor and me leave the room.

Once I shut the door behind me, I said: "Doc, I think I know what's going on."

"Pray tell." the Doctor replied.

"This girl... I know her. In my own time."

"You do?" the Doctor seemed surprised.

"She has this... ability." I explained.

"What kind of ability?"

"Well... imagine being able to send messages, through your cell-phone or computers." I continued, "Well, she can do exactly that, but instead of using a computer... she pretty much IS a computer."

The Doctor looked at the door we just exited, probably looking at the girl he couldn't see.

"Well that explains it." the Doctor replied, "Those voices must be conversations she's overhearing from other people's cell-phones."

"Well, she's lucky there aren't that many of those around here yet." I remarked.

"Yes..." the Doctor said, though he didn't sound like he agreed.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's those times she didn't understand the conversations that bother me." the Doctor answered.

"Why? They could be just tourists."

"I hope you're right." the Doctor replied.

"Who are you?" we heard a woman ask us, "And what are you doing in front of my office?"

Such a bad time to get busted.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hello, I'm the Doctor." the Doctor immediately stuck his hand out, but the woman didn't shake it.

"Doctor who?" the woman asked.

"Don't bother." I told her.

Before the woman could ask anything else, we heard Hana cry.

"Doctor?" Maen called for us, so the Doctor burst into the office.

"What's going on here?" the woman asked.

"Believe me." I answered, "We're still figuring that out ourselves."

I followed the Doctor, and the woman followed me. Once we were all in the office, we could see how Hana was covering her ears again, begging the voices to stop.

"What... what are you doing to that girl?" the woman was astounded at the sight of this.

Ignoring her, the Doctor placed his hands on Hana's head.

"What are you..." the woman started, but I stopped her.

"He knows what he's doing." I said.

"What is he doing, then?" Maen asked.

I shrugged: "Well, Hana claimed she's hearing voices, so I guess he's now trying to hear them himself."

"What?" the woman couldn't believe it, "You don't actually believe that, do you?"

"He did the same to me once." I explained, "To recover lost memories."

The woman scoffed: "Surely, you jest."

"What is he doing now?" Maen asked me.

And to be honest, I had no answer. Whatever it was that the Doctor was hearing, it seemed to frighten him, as his eyes started moving rapidly behind his eyelids, and his body started to shake. Suddenly, Hana fainted, and the Doctor let go of her head and jumped up. After a few seconds of recovery, he grabbed the woman by her collar.

"Tell me, have there been any strange incidents lately?" he asked.

"Apart from you?" the woman replied.

"Listen to me, er..." the Doctor tried to finish his sentence, but he couldn't, "What's your name?"

The woman was reluctant at first, but she answered eventually: "Emma."

"Well, Emma, there's is something going on here, and right now I'm the only one who can put a stop to it. Were there any strange incidents?"

The woman, Emma, needed some time to think of an answer: "Not really... oh wait! Wounded people have come into the hospital recently."

"Isn't that what this building is for?" Maen asked, "To help the wounded?"

"Yes, but the wounds themselves were weird." Emma explained, "For instance, people claimed to have been stabbed, but when we looked at their wounds, we only found traces of plastic, no metal."

That was weird indeed: "How do you get stabbed with a plastic knife?"

"I was afraid of that." the Doctor said, upon which he picked up Hana and made to leave.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"To the Tardis." the Doctor replied.

"Doc, what's going on?" I questioned.

"Remember those voices she mentioned?" the Doctor replied, "Those which she couldn't understand?"

I nodded.

"I know who they belong to." he answered, then left.

"Hey! Don't think you can let us miss out on all the fun!" Maen shouted after him.

She started to follow him, but Emma blocked her way. Or at least attempted to, but Maen was too strong for her, so she pushed her away so she could rush out, completely disregarding the fact that Emma fell to the floor.

Emma was astounded: "Di... did you see that?"

"Well, she only just got here." I told here, "Give her some time to adapt."

Having said that, I followed them back to the Tardis. Emma shouted something after me, but I was too intend on finding out what the Doctor knew to listen to her.


	5. Chapter 5

A man had entered the hospital lobby. I immediately recognized him as the Chaperone, who left Hana in our care. And unfortunately, he recognized the Doctor too.

"Ah, there you are!" he said, "How is she?"

"She'll be fine." the Doctor replied, "Now if you'll excuse me..."

The Chaperone stopped him: "Hold on, where are you going?"

"To my la... practice." the Doctor answered.

"Your lab?" the Chaperone caught what the Doctor almost said, "She's not a lab-rat!"

There's a thought. To a Time Lord, we humans are probably a lower species. While the Doctor himself may not feel that way, his species must perceive us as nothing more but lab-rats. As that thought crossed my mind, the discussion between the Doctor and the Chaperone had heated up, to a point that Maen had to intervene. She stepped between them and knocked the Chaperone down. This drew the attention of three nearby guards. They surrounded Maen, who was thereby forced to draw her light-saber. This kept them at a distance, until one of them realized something.

"What is this?" he said, "This is a hospital, not a Galaxy Wars convention."

"A what?" Maen didn't understand.

I approached Maen: "I'll explain later."

This was the moment when a group of paramedics burst into the lobby. They were dragging a body, which was apparently in critical condition. One of them asked the man at the desk: "We got one with gunshot into the head!"

Immediately, the man at the desk checked for an available operation room. This, while Hana was starting to have her head ache again.

"Oh no... not now!" she shouted, while covering her ears (one would think she'd know by now that this wouldn't work).

As she was shouting, worrying everyone in the lobby, the body on the stretcher was moving. It sat up, as if it didn't know it was shot in the head. And even if the person did know, he wouldn't let that stop him. He got off the stretcher, and like a puppet being pulled forward by strings, it walked towards Hana. The guards raised their guns, but the person took no notice of it. Maen raised her light-saber, but he didn't stop then either. It wasn't until the Doctor raised his sonic screwdriver and let it buzz near its head, that he fell down. Not only did Hana stop screaming, this also caused the guards to turn their guns to the Doctor.

"You're welcome. I loved saving all our lives." the Doctor said.

"You killed him, and you expect us to thank you for it?" one of the guards asked.

"What just happened?" the paramedic wondered, "He... he shouldn't have been able to walk!"

"I believe the answer is inside his head." the Doctor replied, "Literally."

"Alright, I've had enough of this." the Chaperone said, upon which he grabbed Hana's wrist, "I better get you out of here."

"No!" Hana shouted, "The Doctor said he'll cure me!"

"He's a liar!" he replied, "And your my responsibility."

"Excuse me!" I interjected, "You say she's your responsibility?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed.

"Tell me, what is her name?" I asked him.

"You know my name!" Hana shouted.

"Yes." I replied, "But I want to see if he knows it too."

"What's it matter if I know it?" he questioned.

"Are you familiar with the term 'negligence'?" I said.

"Don't start that with me!" he shouted.

"My friend here makes an excellent point." the Doctor agreed, "How long has Hana here been shouting and screaming for help? And when did you think of helping her? And why didn't you do anything when other children were making fun of her because of it? For that matter, doesn't she have any parents you could call when this sort of thing happens?"

With every word the Doctor said, sweat started dripping off the Chaperone's head, and while two of the guards kept their guns aimed at the Doctor, the third one realized what was happening, and decided to help.

"Sir, I'll have to ask you to leave." he said.

"What?" the Chaperone couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You're telling ME to leave?"

"I don't know what's happening either." the guard said, "But it looks like this man knows more about this than we do."

"You can't... You wouldn't..." the Chaperone stammered, but the guard had already grabbed him and dragged him out of the lobby.

"Thank you." Hana said, to me.

I smiled: "It's the least I could do, for what you've d..."

I stopped myself. I nearly gave away that she will help me in many ways in her future.

"What I've done?" she questioned.

"What I mean is..." I tried to get out of this, "I... I'm sure you'll repay me for this one day. Don't worry about it now."

Maen, meanwhile, had deactivated her light-saber: "So, Doctor, what did you mean when you said the answer is inside his head?"

"The paramedic said he was shot in the head." the Doctor explained, "That bullet might tell us more about what's happening."

"You mean you want to take a bullet out of a human's head?" Maen asked, "You need a droid for that!"

"Not on this planet." the Doctor said.

Maen scoffed: "And where do you think you can find someone who could remove a bullet from someone's head?"

"I can!" I heard Emma's voice talk. I was already beginning to fear we hadn't heard the last of her.


	6. Chapter 6

As agreed, Emma was an autopsy on the dead body, with the Doctor's assitence. Hana, meanwhile, was being watched over in the children's waiting room, while Maen and I were watching over the autopsy.

"I dread to think my people used to do this themselves way back when." Maen said.

"That's civilization for you." I remarked.

Maen looked at me, not knowing what to make of my remark, then back at the autopsy. Truth be told, I'm not sure what I meant by that either. I'm usually not the squeemish type of person. But then, the only times I've ever really seen an autopsy performed was either in a movie or a TV-show. Seeing it in real life was an entirely different experience. You'd think that with everything I've already been through, this would be a walk in the park. I'd wish it were so. In short, my remark might have been an attempt at making myself seem less squeemish than I was feeling at the time.

"So... what's your connection to that girl?" Maen suddenly asked.

"It's a long and complicated story." I replied, "But suffice to say that she helped me out of a few pinches before, back in my time."

"In your time?" Maen questioned.

"She's a kid now." I explained, but by the time I first met her, she was already an adult."

"Wait, so you met her as an adult first, and now you meet her as a child?" she had a hard time wrapping her head around this.

"You really didn't have any time-travel stories in your galaxy?"

"Ah!" the Doctor exclaimed, "There it is!"

He was looking at the bullet they had taken out of the man's head. It was still drenched in blood, but even I could tell from where I stood that it wasn't made of metal.

"It's plastic!" Emma noticed.

"Indeed." the Doctor concurred, upon which he scanned it with his sonic screwdriver, "It's as I feared."

"What is it then?" Emma asked.

"It's Nestine." the Doctor replied.

Every one of us looked at each other. Clearly, that word he just used is supposed to mean something to him, but the Doctor seemed oblivious about the simple fact that it meant nothing to us.

"Doc, not all of us were born in a movable police box." I said, "What's Nestine?"

"They're living plastic." the Doctor explained, "There's one consciousness that sends a signal to other pieces of plastic, telling them to do its bidding."

"Are you making this up as you go along?" Emma complained.

"Excuse me, but what does that have to do with Hana?" Maen asked.

It then dawned on me what that meant: "Is that what Hana's been hearing the whole time?"

"Afraid so." the Doctor answered, "An alien consciousness, barking orders at others through electrical signals... for a child like Hana, that's a real nightmare. On top of that, the Nestine must have become aware someone was listening in on them. So they got someone to shoot this plastic bullet into his head, that bullet invaded his brain, and so it could try and kill Hana."

"Can you stop it?" Maen asked.

"I can hypnotize Hana so she can't pick up any signals anymore." the Doctor replied, "But that wouldn't stop the Nestine."

"Hang on!" Emma interrupted, "What are you talking about?"

"You wanted to take Hana to the Tardis." I brought up, "Why?"

"Tardis? What is that?" Emma kept asking.

"I thought it could me find the Nestine's base." the Doctor said.

"Wait, maybe we won't have to." Maen said, "Emma?"

"Finally, someone's noticing me." Emma replied.

"Is there any facility that would transmit any signals?" Maen asked.

Judging from the look on her face, Maen asked her the million-dollar question. After a few moments, she replied: "The only place I can think of is the Maganit Tower."

"Of course!" the Doctor said, "It's the highest building here with the necessary equipment!"

"To do what?" Emma still tried to make sense of the situation.

"So now what?" I asked, "You want to go there and shut the place down?"

"Do you want the world to be taken over by plasic?" the Doctor replied.

"That's not what I meant." I explained, "Didn't Emma say earlier that there have been several incidents involving plastic? If so, it means the Nestine have been around for long enough to strategically place its soldiers. And if this... Tower is indeed its base of operations, it's likely to be heavily guarded."

"I've already thought of that." the Doctor said, with a grin I've come to dread more than anything.


	7. Chapter 7

Rather than explaining anything to us first, the Doctor knelt down to Hana, so they'd be on the same eye-level.

"Hana." he said, "We need your help."

"Mine?" she replied with the same question I had in mind.

"I know how to stop those voices in your head." he explained, "But to do so, I need you to hear them for a little while longer."

"I don't understand." she replied.

The Doctor answered: "Those voices you hear, they're from people who want to take over your world."

"Really?" she was surprised.

"Yes." he continued, "They are using a... special kind of way to talk to each other, and... unfortunately you're the only one who can actually hear them."

"I can?"

"And even worse is that they know you can." the Doctor added.

"Come now!" Emma interrupted, "There's no need to frighten that little girl like that!"

This spooked Hana for a moment.

"In my experience..." Maen told her, "... it's better to tell the truth to kids. No matter how harsh."

"The truth?" Emma obviously doubted the Doctor was saying anything remotely true.

"Why are you still here, anyway?" I asked.

"Because you lot make no sense!" she explained, "And until you explain everything, I'm not leaving you!"

"Really?" I stated, "You're saying WE make no sense? And a British doctor working for a hospital in Tel Aviv does?"

Emma was aghast at that: "What's that got to do with this?"

"Only that you're asking us to tell you our life-story, and yet we're not asking you for yours." I replied, "And besides, we've got enough problems as it is without you interrupting us.

Emma shrugged: "Fine, I'm not saying anything anymore."

"Thank you." the Doctor replied, "So, Hana. Now that they know you can hear them, they know their plans are doomed to fail. So they want to kill you."

Hana gulped at this. I would have complained, but then I realized there was no easier way to say what he just said.

"Give me your mobile." the Doctor stretched out his hand to me.

"Why?" I asked.

He motioned with his hand, telling me to hurry up. I shrugged, upon which I took out my phone and gave it to him.

"Alright." the Doctor continued, "I'll go to where I think the enemies main head quarters is. If it is, they should be sending out an active signal, which you can detect."

"I can?" Hana seemed unsure of herself.

"Certainly." the Doctor said, "However, there's a chance they'd know when someone detects them. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to focus your powers on this."

He pointed to my phone when he said it.

"This way, you'll be able to follow me wherever I'm going. And from there, you can still detect their signals, but if they detect you, they'll think it's this little device that's tracking them. You understand?"

"Yes." Hana answered, "But... wouldn't that get them to kill you?"

"If I'm by myself, sure." the Doctor said, upon which he turned away from her: "Maen, think you're up for this?"

"I don't know." she replied, "I can't use the Force anymore, remember?"

"Hopefully you won't have to." the Doctor said, "Where fighting against walking plastic. The heat of your light-saber should suffice against them."

A grin spread across her face. Clearly, she'd been aching for a fight.

"Excuse me, mister..." Hana said.

"Doctor!"

"Doctor..." Hana corrected herself, "How do I focus on that... thing?"

"Let me take care of that." the Doctor said.

He raised his sonic screwdriver, with which he scanned my phone.

"What is that thing anyway?" Emma asked.

"Which one? My phone or his screwdriver?" I thought she meant the screwdriver at first, but my phone was technically an anachronism too.

"That's a screwdriver?" she couldn't believe it.

"Alright. I think I figured out its signal." the Doctor said, upon which he laid his hand on her face. If memory served, this was how he entered other people's minds. I would guess this is how he let her know the exact frequency my phone has, so she could zero in on it.

"Alright." the Doctor said, "I blocked all other signals for the time being, so there shouldn't be any interference."

"That's good." I said.

"You better stay here and watch over her." the Doctor told me, and I agreed.

"Maen, we better get going." he added, and Maen nodded.


	8. Chapter 8

After about five minutes after the Doctor and Maen left, I began regretting to agree to sit with Hana and wait. Not just because Emma kept nagging at me because she didn't get any wiser from the situation (and dodging questions only work for so long). But I also realized that the Doctor was out saving the world, and I was missing all the action.

"Will you stop it!" Hana shouted at us.

"See!" Emma cried, "Even she doesn't like us arguing."

"I'm not the one who wanted to argue." I whispered.

"What was that?"

"Hana." I directed myself to her, ignoring Emma, "How is it going?"

"That signal I'm supposed to follow, it just started moving faster." Hana answered.

I wasn't sure what to make of that, but I continued anyway: "And are you picking up anything else?"

Before Hana could answer, Emma interrupted again: "I'm sorry, but neither of you believe what that crackpot said, do you?"

There had to be some way to get rid of her, I thought to myself: "Hana, you want something to eat? Or drink maybe?"

She nodded: "Water."

"Emma, go get her some water." I said.

She stood dumbstruck at this: "Why should I go get her water?"

"Because you actually work here and know where to find everything."

Emma had no counterargument against that, so while reluctantly, she went out to fetch some water.

With this, I could ask Hana some things. Things I knew that she could do in the future, and probably can do as a child (if not learned to do when she was a child): "Say er... you're receiving the signal from my phone, right?"

Hana hesitated: "...yes?"

"Can you send one to it?" I asked.

Hana frowned. I could explain what I meant, but I had no idea about how her ability truly worked.

"Can you focus on my phone and... think of making it ring?"

Hana shrugged: "I'll try."

She closed her eyes, concentrating in that typical way children think they should (often looking as if they're in great pain).

"What is this?" she was surprised by the result, "I'm hearing that Doctor talk!"

"Good!" I replied, "What is he saying?"

"I don't know." Hana said, "He... hears what I'm thinking. He thinks I'm talking to him when I'm really talking to you."

This was proving to be more difficult than I thought: "Alright. Hana, here's what I want you to do."

Hana listened to me intently, so I could explain: "Whatever I'm saying now, you think it and send it to him. Whatever the Doc says in reply, you tell me. Do you understand?"

Hana nodded, so I could say what the Doctor needed to hear: "It's okay, Doc. I was just trying something."

"Ah! I knew you'd try something like this." it was weird to hear Hana speak for the Doctor.

"Yeah, sure." I replied, "Can you tell me where you are now?"

"We've taken a taxi, and are half-way there." the Doctor answered.

A taxi? That would explain what Hana meant when she said the signal was moving faster.

"Is there anything... you wanted to tell me?" the Doctor asked, "Or wanted to know?"

That pause she left, it made me think the Doctor was using a word Hana wasn't familiar with. Whichever that might have been, I replied: "No. I already know what I needed to know."

"Er... I don't know this word he said." Hana told me.

"Never mind that." I said, "Is he still on the line?"

"No, he hung up." Hana answered.

Couldn't be helped, I thought to myself: "Something I want you to try."

"You're asking a lot of me." Hana replied.

I had no answer at the ready, so I ignored it: "Can you... turn on my phone's microphone?"

Hana didn't fully understand, so I explained: "You know how with every phone there's something for us to speak in, and another thing for us to listen to?"

Hana nodded, so I could continue: "Well, that part to speak in, I want you to switch it. Try not to call them, just switch that on."

"Sounds difficult." Hana told me.

"It'll probably be easier for you to do than for me to explain." I said.

"You're a grown-up." Hana said, "Aren't you meant to be better at these things?"

"... Yeah..." was all I could manage, "The world of grown-ups is a bit more complicated than that."

"What?" Hana was confused.

"Can you please just try what I asked you to?" I asked again.

"Try what?" Emma just entered at that moment.

I tried to block her out, so I continued talking to Hana: "Don't mind us here, just do as I just told you. And when you do, tell me what you're hearing. Think you can do that?"

"I'll try." Hana said.

"Don't mind us?" Emma was getting more and more impatient.

"Maybe what you're about to witness will answer a few questions." I told her.

"... even have a name?" Hana started.

"I'm sure he does. But he never told me." was the reply.

"Neither have you. You keep saying you're the Doctor, but what does that mean?"

Judging from that choice of words, I assumed that was Maen talking.

"Never mind me. It's our friend we were talking about."

And that was the Doctor. So while I'm not there, they're talking about me.

"Yes. But we didn't start about him either."

"Here it is. Maganit Tower."

That last one was followed by a certain number and the local currency. I would assume that was the taxi-driver talking. The Doctor paid him (though how he just so happened to have Israeli money on him is beyond me).

"Is this the tallest tower they have here?"

"The second tallest in this country, yes. But not the tallest in the whole world. You'd have to travel to the other side of the planet to see that."

"Can we go there when this is over?"

"Sure we can."

"Oh boy." I said to myself as I realized what building the Doctor was talking about. By my time that building (or rather both of them) were already gone, but at this point in history they're still there. So you can understand how I felt about hearing this.

"What's going on here?" Emma asked, "What is she saying?"

Funny, how it was her voice that helped me snap back to reality.

"What are those beeping sounds?" Hana suddenly said.

"Hana, are you sensing anything?" that was the Doctor talking.

"Er... I think he means are you sensing any other signal." I told her, "Do you?"

Again, Hana made her concentration face. Only this time, she didn't need to look like she was in pain. The fact that she had to hold her hands to her head and started to get teary-eyed implied the pain was real this time. Emma started to panic, and headed for the nearest phone.

"This is Dr. Bottom." she said in the phone, "I need so..."

"Ok, ok!" I tried to help somewhat, "Focus on the phone again!"

She must have done that, because she calmed down again. Not only that, she quickly wrapped her arms around me, needing the comfort of an adult.

"Belay that order." Emma said to her phone.

"I take it that was more intense than ever?" I asked her.

"I could hear them louder then." she told me, "It was like I was right next to them."

"Alright." I pet her shoulder to make her feel better, "Now, tell the Doc exactly that."

She sniffed, then nodded. After a few seconds of silence, I asked her: "And?"

"He said thank you." she replied.

Not exactly the kind of answer I hoped for, but knowing the Doctor, it was exactly the sort of answer I expected.

"Are you hearing anything else?" I asked her.

"There are footsteps." she told me, "And a buzzing sound."

They must have walked to the front door and the Doctor must have used his screwdriver.

"By the way." I turned to Emma, "Dr. Bottom?"

Emma frowned: "You should know some of my classmates' last names. Enema, Genital, Herpes, Ontop, Sukmeov,..."

"Alright, alright." I interrupted her.


	9. Chapter 9

As best as I could gather from what Hana was telling me, the Doctor and Maen had entered the building.

"Hold it!" they were stopped, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, hello." this was clearly the Doctor, "I'm the Doctor. And you are?"

"I am telling you you... shouldn't be here." I assume this other person said "unauthorized to be here", but since Hana was telling me what she was hearing, she had to resort to para-phrasing every now and again.

"I don't care. You're in grave danger." this sudden burst of negativity, it could only be Maen.

"Calm down, Maen." the Doctor said, "Tell me, you ever run into anyone plastic?"

There was a silence. I was about to ask Hana what was happening, until she said: "He asked you something!"

That cleared it up for me, but not for Emma.

"Is she making this up as she goes?" she asked.

Before I could give her any answer, there was a scream, which originated from outside. All three of us looked in the direction of the window. Shocked, Emma walked towards the window to look outside.

"Hana, what's happening to the Doctor?" I asked her.

Remembering what she had been doing so far, she closed her eyes again: "There's... there's this whizzing sound. And... a thud... many thuds... and something hissing."

"Um..." Emma spoke, then snapped her fingers to draw my attention. Of course she would, as I hadn't told her my name yet. I came to her and looked out the window. Several people were running away from what looked like shop mannequins. Sure, the Doctor may have explained to me that the Nestine are living plastic, so it would make sense if plastic mannequins would be walking about the streets of Tel Aviv, but even though it made sense logically, it was still a weird sight to witness. These... dolls, were walking like marionettes. Slowly, yet somehow still intimidating. Their hands opened, revealing what looked like guns.

"Get down!" Emma shouted, as she pushed me down to the floor.

Just as we both hit the ground, the window shattered, above us, causing Hana to scream.

"I hate to state the obvious..." I said, "... but your office isn't safe anymore."

Immediately, Emma got up: "Come on, we better take my car."

We both got up, told Hana to come with us, and we left the room.

As we ran to Emma's car, I was beginning to understand what Hana was talking about earlier. She described hearing some whizzing and hissing sounds, along with a few thuds. It sounded like Maen had to use her light-saber. In other words, whatever was going down around here, something similar was happening to the Doctor.

"What's going on with the Doc?" I asked Hana while we were running.

"That man from before, he's saying something." she replied, "Come quietly or the whole town will suffer."

I bumped into Emma, but that was because she had stopped abruptly.

"What are you..." I began, but then I looked in front of us. Three of these mannequins were coming at us.

"Emma, which way is your car?" I asked.

"Behind them." she replied.

"Of course it is." I snarked.

All three of them opened their hands, revealing their guns, and... did nothing. They didn't shoot, but didn't move either.

"What are they doing?" Emma wondered.

"Hana?" I turned to her.

"The Doctor just agreed to come with this man." she replied.

I understood what was going on: "Of course. They knew the Doc would try something, so they threatened to kill the whole city unless he cooperated."

"And they just agreed with it?" Emma couldn't understand.

"I'm not sure if they agreed." I said, "I mean, the Doc did say they're just plastic, following the demands of one consciousness."

"So these are just automatons?"

Automatons? Quite a word to describe them, I thought to myself. But then, I suppose it was more accurate than saying living mannequins.

"Yes, I suppose they are just... Autons." I replied, instantly trying to use an easier word to describe them, "So, what's happening?"

"The Doctor just used your phone. He's calling me."

He still hadn't figured out we were listening in on him? He may know much, but clearly he wasn't omniscient: "What does he say?"

"Nothing." she replied, "He's just... calling me."

Now what is he up to?


	10. Chapter 10

"Ah, the Nestine consciousness..." Hana spoke for the Doctor.

"Doctor." was the Nestine's reply, although Hana explained his voice sounded as though he gurgling. Either they were talking to a large pool of mud, or the consciousness itself couldn't form words too well with its plastic mouth.

"Why do your people hate us so much?"

"My people have no problems with you."

"No? Our planet was destroyed, so we came here. But you had to stand in our way. More than once! And when we finally managed to settle down on another planet, you had to bring your war with the Daleks to us, and destroyed our new planet!"

Given the tone Hana used, she was as familiar with the word "Dalek" as I was. Either she misunderstood what this Nestine said, or...

"What is he talking about, Doctor?"

"He's just trying to... justify mass slaughter."

"Mass slaughter?" I can only imagine the tone that the Nestine used, that it could scare Hana so much.

"You want to rebuilt your planet, I understand that." this must be the Doctor talking again, "But why does it have to be done by killing everyone here?"

"What do propose we do? Talk it out? Try to live side by side with them? They'd never accept us.

"Not anymore, no. Now that you've attacked several people already."

"It was necessary. We were placing ourselves all around, posing as mannequins. And every time someone saw us move, we had to stop them from telling others."

"So you take over this planet by infiltration? Darth Vader would blush at the thought."

"Okay." Hana opened her eyes this time, "Are these two just making up words now?"

"I suppose it is a lot to take in." I replied, "But never mind all that n..."

Hana then shushed me. She closed her eyes, then listened very carefully to what was happening with the Doctor. After waiting for a few seconds, I realized something was off. For some reason, whatever was being said, or whatever was happening, Hana didn't feel like sharing.

"What is she doing?" Emma asked, but Hana shushed her as well, "This can't be right! What is..."

This was when Hana was... I'm not sure how to describe it. It resembled rapid-eye-movement, though it looked more like she was blinking without actually opening her eyes. Before Emma could ask what was happening, Hana started to shake, as if she was having an epileptic attack. She was about to fall, but Emma and I managed to catch her in time. As we helped her lie down, Emma started to check her eyes. Before she could say what she was thinking, the Autons started show erratic behavior as well. Instead of moving to attack people, they just swung their arms around, fell down and curled their limbs like a dead insect... if I didn't know any better, it looked as if they literally didn't know what to do, including how to use any of their limbs. With this, other people had suddenly found the courage to pick up blunt objects and beat the Autons into a thousand pieces. This seemed odd to me at first, but then I realize that these things just froze at first. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to strike back, but they had no way of knowing if it was just a clever ruse. But now that they saw the Autons spazzing out like this, they knew it couldn't be a ruse, so they suddenly found the courage to fight back. After a while, Hana stopped being epileptic, opened her eyes, and saw the destruction that was being done to the Autons. She smiled at the sight of it, then fainted, hanging limbly in our arms.


	11. Chapter 11

After a while, the Doctor returned to the hospital. Immediately upon arrival, he asked to see Hana. Of course, this came with protest from Hana, but Maen kept her talking, which allowed the Doctor to see Hana uninterruptedly. When he did, he placed his hands on her face again, did... whatever that is that he does, then returned me my phone.

"There, our work is done here." he said.

"Doc, what exactly happened?"

"She didn't tell you?" the Doctor asked.

"She fainted before she could." I answered.

"I called Hana, so she could hear my conversation with the Nestine consciousness." the Doctor explained, "In so doing, she could hear me tell the Nestine that he picked the wrong moment to try and conquer the planet. With all your current abilities, it is easy to just hack into their own broadcasts, so any one human could start controlling the Nestene's mannequin dolls."

"So you basically hinted Hana that she should try to broadcast her own signal to them, so she could take control over these things?"

"Yes." the Doctor answered, "Of course, it confused them at first, as they were suddenly compelled to follow the orders of both the consciousness and Hana, so they didn't know which orders to follow, and... well, I think you've witnessed the result."

"That I have." I said.

"Of course, she never did anything like this before, so you can imagine how exhaustive this must have been for her."

That would explain why she fainted: "And what about the Nestene consciousness?"

"You have Maen to thank for that." the Doctor answered, "Her light-saber was enough to melt him down. He won't bother anyone ever again."

I liked to believe him, however I understood that this wasn't the first time the Nestene tried to take us over. This reminded me to ask him about other things. Like what the Nestene was talking about, not just on that subject, but what he meant when he mentioned the word "Dalek". Was it an actual word, or did Hana misunderstand that. Of course asking him all that would mean that I had to explain I was eavesdropping on him, but it also helped me realize there was one more pressing matter I had to know about.

"What about her? Will she be alright?" I asked.

"Hana? She'll be fine." the Doctor replied, "I did, however have to put a mental block on her, so she won't be able to send or receive any signals anymore."

"What?" I was astounded, "What did you do that for? If she can't do that now, she won't be able to help me in the future!"

The Doctor smiled: "Don't worry. It's not a permanent block. It will resurface again when it's needed. Something as powerful as this won't ever stay hidden for long. Especially not now that she's aware she can do it. But for now, she needs some rest. Which means it's best if she doesn't hear any more voices for the time being."

I suppose I should agree with the Doctor, but this only lead to more questions. None that I could ask him out of the blue, since it required me to explain too many things first. But... under different circumstances I wouldn't even be traveling with the Doctor. In fact, for many reasons I wasn't even supposed to be on that island where he picked me up (not even by fate, if there is such a thing). The thought occurred to me that Hana would help me in the future, because I helped her in the past. But if I wasn't even supposed to be here in the past, I could not have helped her, so she wouldn't have a reason to help me later. But now that I have been here, the possibility that might not have the necessary power to help me is there. In which case I would still not be here... This whole adventure created two paradoxes for me. I was too preoccupied with these thoughts to notice when Emma walked in on us, having another fit with us.

"I'm through arguing with you lot." she said.

"Good. Because you're at the wrong clinic for that." the Doctor replied.

This reply seemed so random, it snapped me back to reality.

"I will not leave you, until you explained everything that's happened here." Emma said.

"I could, but you haven't believed everything else I've already told you."

"Why should you tell her anything?" Maen suggested, "You can just show her."

"Fine!" Emma exclaimed, "Show me!"

So now there are four of us who will travel through space and time. Not sure if this will be more interesting or (considering our new companion) more excruciating.

"Come right along." the Doctor said, as he lead the way, and we all followed.

"But tell me one thing." Emma said, "How did you get that little girl to hear what was happening to you?"

The Doctor then looked at me, now realizing I had been eavesdropping, then back at Emma: "We'll explain later.

**THE END**


End file.
